Sweet Pain
by SilverTonguedLiar
Summary: After Loki is defeated, the Avengers think all is well. But when Loki is kidnapped from his own prison cell by Thanos, they can't leave their old enemy to his torture. When Loki is allowed to stay in the Avengers Tower until he recovers, they realize it isn't only his body that's broken, but his mind. Will a certain billionaire be able to put the pieces back together? FrostIron.
1. Prologue

******A/N: This is my first multi-chap Avengers fic, hope you enjoy! Please R&R, it would make my day :) Also, didn't have much time to edit, so sorry for any mistakes.  
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* * *

**Prologue**

Loki paced inside his new cell, wondering not what punishment the Asgardians were discussing for him, but the Chitauri. The Other had made it very, very clear on what would happen if he failed.

He knew that to most onlookers it would just look as though he was raging over his defeat by the Avengers, as they called themselves, but it was much, much worse than that- for them as well as him. _His _rage would not just be a small tantrum, no, it would destroy them all.

Loki sat on the "bed"-in actuality a metal shelf- and put his head in his hands. Instantly, his mind flashed back to his last meeting with the Other in the strange, rocky realm that looked as though a moon had exploded into a thousand fragments.

_"You think you know pain?"_ the Other had hissed. _"If you fail, he will make you long for something as sweet as _pain_."_ The hiss had turned into a snarl as the Other had placed his cold, scaly hand on Loki's cheek.

"You seem troubled, brother," a deep voice said, shaking Loki out of his musings.

Thor. The great oaf. Why couldn't he leave Loki alone? He needed to get as far away as possible. Though even that wouldn't matter... his mind drifted back to the Other's promise.

_"You will have your war, Asgardian. If the Tesseract is kept from us, there will be no realm, no crevice, no barren moon where he cannot find you."_

"Brother!" Thor said, snapping Loki once again from his thoughts.

"I. Am. Not. Your. Brother." Loki ground out, still holding his head in his hands.

"You will always be my brother, Loki," Thor replied. "Now what troubles you so?"

Loki snarled. Thor was too forgiving, too sweet. It made his gut churn. Anything, anything would be better that puppy-dog face, the stubborn attitude that wouldn't allow him to let go. _Fight me!_ Loki wanted to scream. _Hate me! Anything, anything but forgiveness!_ For Loki knew, while Thor was ignorant, that he had done things far too horrible for forgiveness to fix anything.

"Nothing you'll be able to anything about," Loki muttered darkly, and lay down, back turned to Thor.

Thor started to say something, but was cut off by the some announcement over the radio.

"I must go, brother," Thor said, looking at his watch (Loki was surprised- Thor knew how to use a watch?), and walked out after a nod of farewell.

"By all means, do," Loki muttered after Thor had gone.

* * *

When Tony got back from their mission (it was just a few rouge Chitauri, nothing to be worried about) he knew something was up. SHEILD agents in black uniforms ran frantically back and forth, shouting to each other. Fury was yelling into his headset, chewing out someone while Hill walked around other agents sitting at their computer monitors, snapping out orders. Red lights flashed, and a shrill siren sounded dimly.

"You know, I don't think you even need Loki here," Tony said nonchalantly, hands in his pockets. "You got the chaos thing down pat."

Fury glared at him. "That's the problem, Stark- Loki _isn't_ here."

Tony was flabbergasted. "He escaped? From a cage _I_ built? That's a little hurtful, you know."

"This isn't a joking matter, Stark!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Tony said, holding his hands up in a placating gesture. "Take a chill pill. I'll check it out."

"Get going, then," an aggravated Fury muttered while turning back to his bank of screens.

Tony walked down to his lab, whistling idly. He typed in his code, and the doors opened silently. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he called out a greeting to Bruce and JARVIS.

"Heard the new gossip? Loki's managed to escape," he said cheerfully.

"Yes, I have, and I think you should be doing something about that," Bruce mumbled while fixedly looking at the screen and whatever he was working on.

"Yeah, yeah," Tony said absently. "JARVIS, pull up the security camera footage from... eh, six hours ago."

The billionaire fast-forwarded through three hours and forty-seven minutes of Loki alternately pacing or lying on his bed staring blankly at the ceiling. How boring. Tony voiced his thoughts aloud.

"This guy must be so bored. I mean, all he does is pace. When we get him back in there, d'you think we should get him some magazines or something?"

Bruce ignored him. Tony sighed and sprawled back on his favorite leather spinney chair, and began scrolling through footage again.

Finally, he found something of interest, something out of the monotone of pacing and waiting. "Whoa, JARVIS, slow down there. Yeah, at 2:24 pm."

Tony's eyes widened as he replayed the footage for a third time.

"Hey, Brucey-boy? You might want to look at this."


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: Wow! My inbox was clogged with all the alerts and faves! :) Also, big thanks to all who reviewed. I'll answer questions at the bottom because I'm sure you don't want to read all my rambling. **

**On with the story!  
**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

The team sat uneasily in Tony's huge living room, all unsure what to make of the news.

"Look, how do we know he wasn't faking it?" Natasha asked Tony as she paced around the ample floor space.

"He wouldn't freak out and start trying to go ninja if they were bailing him out," Tony argued, still analyzing every frame of the security video on his laptop.

The footage showed a small portal opening in Loki's glass cell. The god had sat bolt upright and slowly backed away as a small swarm of Chitauri poured into the cage. But the cell had limits, and soon Loki was pressed against the wall. The Chitauri had taken him as he struggled, and though the camera didn't record sound, it was clear he was spitting obscenities at them. The portal had closed immediately after they had gone.

"He's the god of _lies_," Natasha said slowly, as if Tony was stupid (yeah, right. Then where did the 'genius' part of his title come from?). "One of his nicknames is Silvertongue. I think he'd know how to pretend."

Tony opened his mouth, ready to argue his point once more, but Clint cut him off.

"It doesn't even matter. Even if they did forcefully take him, and even if we did want to rescue him, we can't get to him. He could be _worlds_ away by now."

Tony slumped, looking defeated as he returned to his laptop.

"I do not know if it is possible for them to have gone," Thor spoke up. "It must have taken a massive amount of energy just to get them here. The allies of my brother may be skilled in magic, but I do not think traveling between worlds is their area of expertise."

"The Chitauri can use magic?" Bruce questioned, looking up from where he was also hunched over a laptop.

"I do not think most Chitauri are practiced in the art. However, my brother's scepter was magic, so therefore they must either have magical objects or at least some of them can use sorcerer's skills." Thor replied.

"Hey, Thor?" Tony said distractedly. "Why didn't Loki just use his magic-y skills to just bust outta there? 'Cause like, based on mythology, he's a pretty good sorcerer or whatever himself."

"The Allfather had placed a cloaking spell over my brother's cage, therefore making his magic unreachable. He-"

"Tony?" Bruce cut off Thor, still fixed on his laptop. "There were massive energy waves coming from the portal when it was opened, like the Tesseract. Could you hook up all the spectrometers again to try and track for the gamma radiation? That way, we could at least see if another portal opened on Earth. If not..." Bruce trailed off, but the unspoken message remained. If not, then there was no way of getting to Loki or his former allies.

"You all seem set on tracking him down and rescuing him," Natasha interrupted. "-but what if it's all a trap? He could have faked his unwillingness to go, and when we track him down there'll be an ambush waiting for us."

Clint nodded. "I'm with Tasha," he said. "It seems like the kind of thing Loki would do- playing on our good-guy instincts."

"_Our_? I think you mean Cap's. He's always like-"

Steve cut off Tony with a narrow-eyed glare. "It doesn't matter, though, because even if it is an ambush, we still need to track Loki down so he can receive punishment for his crimes. Whether we're there to arrest him or rescue him will depend on the situation, but the bottom line is we've gotta find him."

"For once, I agree with him." Tony stood up, stretched and yawned. "I'm going down to the lab. You coming, big guy?" He called over his shoulder as he walked down the stairs, carrying his laptop.

Bruce rolled his eyes and sighed. "We'll report if we get any news," he said tiredly, and the others nodded, though Natasha and Clint still looked a little doubtful about the 'rescuing Loki' part of the plan.

* * *

Later, after the others had gone to bed (except for Tony and Bruce, they were still down in the lab), Thor stood on the balcony, leaning against the railing. He lifted his face up to the stars, where he knew Asgard as well as the Chitauri's dark realm lay.

"Oh, brother," he whispered. "What have you done?"

* * *

Loki woke with a jolt, strapped down to a hospital bed. What had just happened? He tried to look around, and managed a glimpse of a sterile white room before his head was snapped back into looking at the equally sterile white ceiling by a pair of cold, scaly hands.

Everything rushed back to him- his capture by the Chitauri, and arriving in this cold, sharp-edged building. Loki fought the rising fear with difficulty; he knew, he knew without a doubt, that this was the Other and he was going to be tortured or killed in payment for his failure.

A cruel, scaly purple-red face appeared in his line of vision. Now it took all Loki could do not to scream. It was... _Him_. Thanos. No, no, this was _much_ worse than the Other; and his terror must have been showing on his face because the evil face broke into a malicious smile.

"It's been a while since you visited us, Loki," Thanos said, his deep snarl echoing in the empty room.

"I thought I might take the trouble of getting us together."

* * *

**A/N: Here's answers to some questions I heard on reviews, and once again, thanks to all that did review!  
**

Bluephoenix669: **No, I was thinking this would be a more mind/emotions breaking thing. Thanks for your suggestions, I completely agree :)**

Psycho-Escape: **I'm still thinking about it, but most likely there will be FrostIron. Thanks for reviewing!**

Gaile-2: **Thanks! Yeah, sorry, but it was the prologue... :P I'm trying to get my chapters longer. Anyways, thanks!**


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: Sorry this chapter is shorter than normal, I'm going on a trip on Saturday, so I won't be able to upload. Hope this satisfies your needs long enough :P I will be back next Sunday, though, so hopefully I can upload then. **

**Also, I just realized I have them in Tony's living room and on the Helicarrier. Let's just say Tony and the gang have large quarters, hmm? Sorry about that, just a typo thingy.  
**

**I will have questions at the bottom as usual. Thanks to all that reviewed! :)  
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* * *

**Chapter 2  
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The logical, sensible part of Loki's brain knew this wasn't real. It was all mind-manipulation from Thanos- it worked a little like the scepter Loki had used when he was working with the Chitauri.

But that logical part of his mind was shut away, under lock and key, and all Loki could feel was pain. It was emotional and "physical"- he relieved the worst moments of his life, over and over, and experienced his worst fears.

He was killed in this nightmarish state, many times- and whoever said you couldn't be hurt in a dream was wrong.

Stabbed through by a grinning Thanos.

Odin and Thor, majestic and cold, rejecting him.

Finding out about his Frost Giant heritage.

Bleeding to death, drowning, drinking acid, burning.

Killed by those he cared most about.

"No, Loki."

Tortured, tortured, tortured.

And with every agonizing scene, every image that Thanos planted in his mind, everything that that cruel, twisted creature had dredged up from the deep recesses of his brain, with every waking moment, a little more of the shell around Loki's heart shattered until he was raw and bleeding inside.

Loki screamed, he begged and pleaded, he strained at the restraints holding him down, and never once did the unforgiving hands clenched on his skull relent their hold.

He was trapped so deep inside his mind, so far away from the real world, he longed for something physical. Anything, anything, to bring him out of this nightmare- the Other was right, he longed for something as sweet as physical pain.

Loki regained consciousness for a second, opening his eyes to the face destroying.

"Enjoying the show?" Thanos whispered, as a new torrent of images pelted his mind.

A raw sob escaped his lips as fell back into pain and darkness.

* * *

Tony tiredly drank another gulp of coffee. He was scanning through newspaper clippings, seeing if there was anything about portals or Loki, but he hadn't been getting any work done in the last hour. Tony had read the same sentence over ten times, and still wasn't taking any of it in. There was only so much caffeine could do.

So far nothing seemed to have happened. Bruce was continuing to track the gamma while JARVIS rattled off any messages from the team and Fury, mostly consisting of something along the lines of "hurry up" with a few expletives deleted.

He was about to nod off when a whoop from Bruce snapped him awake.

"Yes! We got a hit! It's in... What the hell?"

Tony was at his side in an instant. "Where?"

"It says it's in Washington D.C.," Bruce said, a furrow in his brow. "But the government knows how dangerous Loki is- so why in the world would they go there?"

Tony was already walking over to his suit, shooting commands at JARVIS and getting ready to send a message to the team.

"I don't know," he called back to Bruce over his shoulder. "But we're gonna find out."

* * *

The team (minus Tony and Bruce) had lingered in the living room in varying states of enthusiasm about the plan. Clint and Natasha still remained skeptical about the whole thing, while Thor wholeheartedly agreed to rescue his brother. Steve sat quietly in the corner, sketching, not taking sides until he saw the situation.

"I know my brother," Thor protested. "He was genuinely surprised."

"He was pretty genuine when he took over my _mind_ with the Chitauri's scepter, too," Clint shot back.

The god opened his mouth, about to pursue the argument, when Tony's voice crackling over the comm cut him off.

"Children, behave," Tony said mockingly. "We have a hit, so leave your squabbles to the playground and suit up."

"Where?" Natasha asked.

"Washington D.C.," The billionaire replied. "Don't ask, because I have no idea." With that, the radio shut off.

"All right, boys," Natasha said crisply. "Let's go."

* * *

**A/N: Ok, there was just one question. Lol. **

Gaile2:** No, in my story a few rouge ones are still around... I'm still figuring it out, though. Thanks for reviewing... twice! :)**


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: I'm back! Wooo! :) I tried to write a longer chapter for you guys (and kinda failed :/ ) 'cause I was gone and 'cause you've been asking for them. Thanks to all that reviewed, I looked in my inbox and was like O_o in a good way. :) Hope you like it, and sorry if there's any mistakes (I wanted to get this out to you guys fast so I didn't really edit) and I remembered one other thing- disclaimer. Eek! I haven't been putting them on, but I hope you know I don't own the Avengers...? Please don't sue me *hides***

**R&R! :D  
**

**P.S. I don't remember if there were any questions (sorry) but if there are I'll answer them in the next chapter. :/ Yea... I've been kinda busy lately...  
**

* * *

The quinjet flew swiftly toward D.C., Clint piloting as per usual. Natasha sat up front with him, both keeping a terse silence. Steve and Thor fiddled with their weapons in a bored and anticipated fashion in the back of the small plane. Bruce had elected not to go on this mission- he was still wary of hurting them by accident, even after the success in New York.

"Iron Man, do you copy?" Natasha said, breaking the thick silence.

"Yeah, yeah, don't be such a mother hen," Tony replied, a red and gold streak parallel to the plane.

Natasha rolled her eyes but held her tongue. There were more important things to be done.

"All right, Spandex Warriors, we're approaching the building. There's a door 'round the backside, 12 yards from the right-hand corner. Do keep up, will you?" Tony shut off the comm and shot over the roof ahead of them.

Steve glared in Tony's direction while Clint landed in the abandoned parking lot. The building wasn't removed from civilization, but it seemed that way, as there were no people that they could see. Garbage cans overflowed in front of houses that had broken shingles and overgrown lawns, and the pavement and sidewalks were speckled with moss and weeds sprouting up between an abundance of cracks. Tony was already at the nondescript metal door, hacking into the security frame. "You know, for such a crappy neighborhood they have a pretty good security system," he commented, focused on the lock.

After a few moments, it popped open with a click and Tony opened the door, bowing them through. "Age before beauty," he mocked.

Natasha smacked him on the arm as she entered. "Pearl before swine," she shot back as she pulled out her gun.

Tony huffed. "Whatever," he muttered, and Natasha gave a satisfied smirk.

The others followed Natasha and Tony quickly through the door. Inside was a long, white hallway, harshly illuminated by florescent bulbs on the ceiling. Metal doors that resembled giant safes branched off at regular intervals.

"Split up?" Tony questioned uncertainly.

Steve nodded. "Sure," he replied. "Tony, can you unlock the doors for all of us?"

"Fine," the billionaire grumbled. He hovered over to the first door, and after a few minutes of metallic clicking and swearing, the door swung inwards. Thor stepped through, hammer at the ready. The process was repeated for each of the team members until just Tony and Clint were left. The two men looked at each other, shrugged in unison, and stepped through their respective doors.

* * *

Tony walked cautiously down the white hallway, a mirror image of the last one. It reminded him of a hospital, all cold and sharp-edged. He hated hospitals.

Something was wrong here, Tony realized. He tilted his head, considering. Why hadn't they met a single living soul since they arrived? The building looked important, the lights were on, but no people were there.

Another metal door, similar to the others, lay at the end of the hallway. The path he was currently on had no branching off corridors, which also meant no escape routes.

Tony looked around suspiciously before taking a good look at the lock. This one looked more complex than the other ones he had hacked, and he knew instinctively that this would take more than a few simple codes.

"JARVIS, can you get me in?" He muttered, fingers flying over the numeric keypad underneath the lock screen.

"Would you like me to erase any traces, sir?" The crisp, accented voice replied.

"Uh... how long would it take?"

"Approximately 23 minutes, sir."

"I need it _now_, JARVIS," Tony hissed.

"As you wish, sir," the AI said, and the door clicked open.

* * *

"Holy..." Tony whispered.

Loki was strapped down to a table, restraints around his wrists and ankles. Blood oozed from under the metal cuffs, staining the white sheet beneath him. He was as pale as ice and his chest barely moved. Only his eyes, madly flickering under his eyelids, showed any sign of life.

A machine was hooked up to him, looking like a heart monitor but Tony recognized it as an energy reader. The green line was flat and placed around two-thirds of the way down the screen.

Tony flipped the comm on.

"Uh, guys? I found him."

* * *

Loki was losing his grasp on what was real. It was too much, too painful. Images and scenes and clips and sounds registered in his brain, and it was _too much_. He didn't know if the iron grip on his head was there or gone, if he was lying down or sitting up, if he was dying on a battlefield while fireballs exploded around him or if he was falling from the Bifrost while his fake father rejected him.

And he was nothing, broken, because Thanos took his sanity. He drifted among shadows and sank in pits of lava, and his mind, his only sanctuary, had been turned inside out for its contents to be dissected.

Loki was raw and in pain and he was _done_. He didn't want to do it anymore. He was shattered and broken and tired, oh so tired.

Loki didn't know how long he was in this state, hours, days, maybe years. But he came back, a tiny bit, to see worried brown eyes staring back at him. His brain was muddled and confused, and everything he saw was through a haze of pain, but those gold-flecked eyes imprinted themselves into his memory, and as he fell back into shadows and darkness, he clung to the image, and the glimmer of some feeling it brought him.

Hope.


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: OH. MY. GOD. 50 reviews? You guys are awesome! Not to mention the 80-something faves and alerts in my inbox. Just... wow. :D Thanks sooo much! Gah. Loki was stubborn, Bruce and Tony were stubborn, this whole chapter was stubborn. BLARGH. Hope you like it anyways. ;) As usual, I do not own the Avengers. My ninja-spies are working on it, though.  
**

**Also, I was thinking on maybe a story on Nick Fury's back-story, movie-verse. (I don't read the comics.) Like, how he became part of SHIELD, how he lost his eye, but all made up by me with no comic-ness. Give me _honest_ feedback on the idea?  
**

**Enjoy, and review!  
**

* * *

"How's he doing?" Tony asked, poking his head into the room Loki was staying in. The god's condition hadn't changed since they rescued him from D.C., and he was currently in a coma. It was odd, Tony reflected, to see the chaos-making person he encountered this... vulnerable.

"Nothing's changed, Tony. I would have called you," Bruce said tiredly, running a hand through his curly hair.

"Well-" Tony began, before a smoothly accented voice interrupted him.

"Sir, vital signs have increased by 22% in the past 16 seconds."

Tony raised an eyebrow. "Would you look at that. Reindeer Games may be coming back to the land of the living."

Bruce rolled his eyes absently, more focused on the various medical devices hooked up to Loki than Tony's quips. The Trickster's metabolism had been slowed down, all of his organs functioning normally but sluggishly. Now, his heartbeat had sped up to a more normal pace, as had his breathing.

Loki let out a groan, shifting slightly before reverting back to his comatose state. Tony sighed.

"You know, you really got me thinking you'd get up and go all, 'kneel, mortal scum' on us," The genius told Loki's unconscious form.

Bruce sighed, exasperated. But he'd seen weirder things than Tony talking to a comatose person. He pushed his glasses up higher on his nose and went back to his laptop.

"Come on, dude!" Tony whined. "You can't just stay holed up in here! Besides, that's creepy, watching him sleep. Like that Twilight guy. And we have to work on the _thing_." He waggled his eyebrows in a dramatic manner.

The _thing_ Tony was referring to was SHEILD's Tesseract-powered weapons. The billionaire had somehow got his hands on a couple (how, he had no idea), and they were testing out the capabilities. But Bruce suspected it was only because Fury had forbidden it and that the Director would blow his top if he found out. Tony loved pissing him off (a hobby the doctor thought could turn unhealthy in an instant).

However, Bruce just packed up his laptop and scattered papers, and started walking out the door.

"Yes!" Tony said, whooping. "Anyways, I was thinking about shooting at vibranium..."

"Tony, Steve's _never_ gonna give you his shield..."

The two scientists wandered off to the lab, discussing the density of metals and how likely it was that Steve would give Tony his shield, trusting JARVIS would alert them in any change of Loki's condition.

And so, it was to a silent and empty room that the god woke.

* * *

It was a dream turned into a nightmare.

"You may have evaded me once, _Laufeyson_," Thanos hissed, his voice dripping with venom. "But your little 'friends'," his lip curled at the word, "-will not be able to protect you for long."

Loki was angry and confused. What 'friends' were Thanos talking about? And how did he know about Laufey?

The alien smirked, enjoying Loki's cluelessness.

"Oh, my dear young Frost Giant," Thanos purred, and Loki stiffened. "You've been very generous with your magic."

The god was suddenly filled with horror. His _magic_? Loki tried frantically to summon even a spark of it, but all he could feel was a broken down shell of what his power formerly was.

"What have you done?" He howled, but Thanos only smirked once more.

"Well, you have been very giving. It's only fair that I give you something in return, yes? I thought so."

The cruel leader pointed a staff of pure, glowing blue power at Loki, and a starburst of pain exploded inside his head. He groaned, clutching his skull as his vision blurred and he sank to his knees.

"You think so highly of yourself, above mortals," Thanos said, purple eyes glowing in the dark, "But here, you are, kneeling just as they do. Pleasant dreams, Liesmith."

* * *

Loki sat bolt upright, breathing raggedly. The sudden change in position was more than his body could handle, and his head spun while his muscles shrieked in protest. When his head cleared, he saw he was in a moderately sized bedroom, painted a light shade of mint green with fancy crown molding. Everything looked immaculate except for the small wooden chair leaning crookedly near the door. An intricately wrought copper bookshelf was placed against one of the walls, with a matching nightstand standing next to his bed. Loki stiffened for a moment when he realized the sheets were white.

The god's brow furrowed. Where was he?

He swung his feet off the bed and stood up shakily, leaning against the bed until he stopped feeling dizzy.

"I would advise against doing that, sir."

Loki whipped around, but no one was in the room except he. So where was the...

"Master Stark and Dr. Banner are currently in the elevator, riding to your floor. They ask you stay in your room." The British-accented voice continued.

Loki was stopped cold. _Stark_? And _Banner_? What was he doing... The Trickster's lip curled with distaste and shame. _They_ had gotten him out of his prison? Of all people, it had to be the Avengers, his enemies. Though, of course, they probably were just re-capturing him...

His thoughts were cut off by the arrival of said billionaire and doctor.

"Reindeer Games! Where'd your antlers go?" Stark said, grinning and spreading his hands for a dramatic affect.

Loki turned to face them coolly. "I believe you know the answer to that, Stark."

"Fine, fine." The supposed genius deflated. "Neither of you guys are any fun. Blah, blah, blah."

Banner rolled his eyes. "How do you feel, Loki?"

Loki bristled. "I feel fine," he said haughtily. "Now if you'll excuse me, I will be taking my leave now." The god gave a stiff little bow and proceeded to walk out the door.

However, Loki's plan to exit with dignity was thwarted when he fell unconscious once more before he was halfway down the hall.

* * *

"Man, Thor is gonna kill us." Tony said, peering down at Loki's once more limp form.

"He'll kill _you_, you mean," Bruce corrected, examining the god's skull. "Oh, wonderful. He's got a concussion."

"God help me," Tony muttered, letting loose a few choice swear words. "He can't have a concussion!"

"Well, you didn't go after him until you heard his head hit the floor," Bruce pointed out.

"_You_ could have gone! Why me?" Tony protested.

Bruce just gave him a look. "Yeah, because he'd really want me to help him after the other guy tossed him around like a wet noodle," the doctor said sarcastically.

"Don't blame _me_ for his concussion! He brought it on himself!"

"Next you'll be saying it's karma's way of getting back at him."

"Well, that too, but it is definitely not my fault."

"It's _never_ your fault."

"Yes! You finally got it right!"

"I was being _sarcastic_, Tony."

"Yeah right! You were _totally_ sincere..."

They were so involved in their bickering; they didn't realize the impassive gaze of the god in question on them.

"You mortals are a piece of work."


	6. Chapter 5

**Oh my god! I am soooo sorry I've been gone so long! :( I've been super busy, and had a mild case of writer's block. But, once again: Sorry! This chapter was really stubborn, so it's kinda short. :/  
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**Thanks once again to all who reviewed! Love your questions and suggestions, I never would've thought of some of these plot twists without you. :)  
**

**R&R, and enjoy!  
**

* * *

_Liar_. _Worthless_. _Traitor_.

Thanos taunted him, along with others. Odin. Frigga. Thor. The Warriors Three. The Avengers.

Their voices whispered, mocked, laughed.

_Monster_. _Unloving_. _Pawn_.

Wisps of smoke, ugly sneers, barren rock.

He watched in horror as icy tentacles wrapped around him as he stood, powerless. They crept up his legs, his skin returning to its natural blue tint.

_Embrace your heritage, Frost Giant_.

_Ha! Pathetic excuse for a warrior. You rely on your enemies to save you!_

_You could never be Aesir, brother. I was always better than you. _

_ A pawn! No one would ever take you in from purely the kindness of his heart..._

_ You killed your own brother!_

The ice encased his face, sealing him in his tomb.

Loki woke up with a scream bubbling in his stomach and pressing against his gritted teeth, the words from his mind hanging in the quiet air.

He lay there for hours, not daring to fall asleep lest the images and words already running through his thoughts would take over his dreams. And Loki finally accepted Thanos' cruel genius, because no matter how long he would be free of his presence, the scenes Thanos implanted in his mind would stay with him forever.

Loki rolled over on his stomach, spending the rest of the night with teeth clenched and every muscle tense.

* * *

Tony yawned from his position in front of a bright screen. _Sleep_, he thought blearily. Bruce and he had stayed up all night, finding every bit of information of importance about the building that Loki had been held in. However, with no rest after the flight and no coffee either, his brain was starting to melt into a pile of scrambled eggs.

He did a slow motion face-plant into the table, and decided he might just stay there a while, when (of _course_) JARVIS' voice sounded overhead, explaining that Director Fury had come to debrief him and yada yada yada.

Tony groaned, zombie-shuffled out of his chair, and made his way over to the coffee machine. He got a mug for himself and Bruce, who was zoning out on his computer, and downed it in one gulp.

Then he made another. And another. And another.

Bruce sighed.

* * *

Nursing his fifth (or sixth?) mug of coffee, Tony made his way down to the conference room, where Fury was tapping his foot impatiently.

"Alright, Stark," Fury growled. "Now that you've decided to join us, we can discuss the matter of Loki."

The team (minus Thor- he had gone back to Asgard) exchanged glances.

"What's there to discuss?" Tony said leisurely, kicking his feet up on the table. "He's just going back to SHIELD, right?"

Fury squinted at him. "Well obviously, SHIELD's prison didn't hold him. And until we can build a better one, we'll need him to stay somewhere."

Steve leaned back, confusion written on his face. "Then what will you do with him, sir?"

"Loki will stay here under house arrest until a new prison is built, or Odin takes him back to Asgard. Also, you six are the only people who have actually _dealt_ with him before, so you're more equipped to handle any... _problems_ he might cause."

Tony's caffeinated brain didn't realize what he was saying for a moment. When it finally hit him, he reeled back in shock.

"Excuse me? This is my house, and I have a _company_ to manage! I can't just leave him here alone; he'll burn down the place before you can say _this idea sucks_. I-"

The Director cut him off before he could rant any further. "Well, what do _you_ suggest we do?" He asked crisply.

Tony gaped at him for a minute before exploding, "This is my _house_!"

Fury glared. "I don't have time for this, Stark! Loki will stay here until a new prison is built. End of discussion."

"No, it is not the end of the discussion! What about what _I_ want? I would prefer to _not_ have a psychopath running around my halls!"

"Manage him for just a few weeks, you get everything else you want!"

Tony stood up, leaving his coffee cup on the table. "Not always," he said coldly, his voice breaking.

* * *

**Ooh, cliffhanger-y thing! Yesh, I am evil. :) Well, I'm in Loki's Army, so what do you expect? ;)  
**


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: ARGH. Sorry I've been gone so long, I've had a serious case of writer's block (I'm still not happy with this chapter) and I was tackled by a different plot bunny. **

**Speaking of which, check out the story born from said plot bunny, it's a 'Avengers at Hogwarts' kinda thing... yeah... I dunno what I was thinking either...  
**

**Also, on that story, I got a crappy review telling me my stuff was terrible. And that's fine, I love feedback, but would ya mind telling me _what's_ wrong with my story, instead of just stating that my work sucks?  
**

**Anyway. Sorry, people. That kinda made me go into a long mental rant when I read it, but I really appreciate your reviews. ^^ Especially after reading stuff like that. :)  
**

**So, thanks to all that reviewed, faved, and alerted, you made my day. :)  
**

**Enjoy!  
**

**Edit: Oh my god, guys. Over 100 reviews? SQUEEEEEEE! :D  
**

* * *

Tony's feet carried him unconsciously to his workshop, his head a whirlwind of anger and bitterness. His team didn't follow him, either because they didn't care or they knew he wanted to be left alone. Either way, he was glad.

AC/DC poured from the speakers, and he sprawled back in his chair, pulling up designs for a new idea he'd came up with about his suit. He had been running scans on Steve's shield, and he thought that with a little time, his suit could have coating of a metal that had a similar molecular structure to vibranium.

"JARVIS?" Tony asked randomly.

"Yes, sir?"  
"Where are the rest of the team and what's Loki's status?"  
"Agents Romanoff and Barton are sparring in the training room. Captain Rogers is in the kitchen, while Dr. Banner is in his lab. Thor is, as far I know, not currently on Earth at the moment."

Tony scowled. "Don't be a smart-aleck with me. Loki's status?"

"My apologies, sir," the British-accented voice said smoothly. "Loki is currently awake and is in his room, which is on lockdown. His concussion seems to be faring better."

"Great," Tony said, standing up. "Save all my files, there's someone I want to visit."

* * *

Loki paced. His head throbbed, but it would heal fast... he hoped. Had Thanos taken his enhanced healing power along with all his magic?

The god seethed. His _magic_. Without it, he could to nothing against the band of mortals. He was helpless.

So lost in his thoughts, he didn't realize the mortal- _Iron Man_, his brain supplied, and he curled his lip in disgust- had walked into his room. The man leaned casually against the doorframe, his usual cocky smirk gracing his features.

"So," he started, "I have a question."

"Get out," Loki hissed.

The mortal was unflinching. "This is actually part of my Tower, so... I really don't think you can order me around."

Loki snarled, resuming his pacing. He could crush them to dust; he could break apart the very fabric of their being, he could watch in satisfaction as they were tortured before his eyes-

But his mind reeled back, remembering how Thanos had done all of those things to him, and he was such a mess of confusion and hurt and rage he almost missed what Stark was saying.

"-So anyway, you're pretty much under house arrest here. But back to my question- can I study you?"

This threw off Loki, so the biting remark he was going to make never made it past his lips.

"I... Study me?" He stared at the mortal, who had his hands nonchalantly in his worn jean pockets.

"Yeah," he said, nodding eagerly. "Like, study your magic and energy signatures?"

Loki smiled bitterly. "You won't find any."

"What?"

The god rounded on him, sneering. "I said, you won't. Find. Any. My magic has been taken for at least-"

Loki cut himself off. He couldn't trust them; they'd use anything he said against him. Stark still looked at him curiously.

"You can take magic?"

Loki scowled, narrowing his eyes. "Evidently so."

"Huh," the mortal said, looking unconvinced. "Well, JARVIS will still monitor your energy levels so I can be sure if you're lying or not."

The Trickster raised an elegant eyebrow. "And how do you know that I'm not shielding my energy from you?"

Stark chuckled. "If you were, you would've busted outta this joint long ago."

* * *

**A/N: Short chapter is short. Sorry, guys :/ Like I said, writer's block. **


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